Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has begun a hunger strike and is refusing to appear at his trial to protest the conditions of his detention. Ntaganda is on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which …

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday said that the draft of the final outcome document for the upcoming UN summit on refugees falls short of dealing with the issue effectively. According to the rights groups, the UN is missing an opportunity by not proposing anything of substance. Salil Shetty, Secretary General of …

Oklahoma will have a two-year delay in lethal injections after the government board of the prison system declined to consider new execution procedures on Tuesday. After a botched execution in 2014 and numerous drug mix-ups in 2015, Attorney General Scott Pruitt refuses to set execution dates until new protocols have been approved. After the botched execution, …

A lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Tuesday alleging inadequate education facilities and standards in Detroit. Seven students are contending that the state of Michigan has denied them their constitutional right to literacy due to "infestations of mice and cockroaches, unqualified staffs, unsafe buildings, and …

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein addressed the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council Tuesday and condemned the trend of countries attempting to refuse human rights scrutiny under the UN. Many countries try to evade investigation by labeling the attention as "interference in the affairs of sovereign nations." Zeid observed that …

South Sudan officials have said the country will take legal action against the US-based advocacy group, The Sentry, after a report published by the group accused the nation's leaders of profiting from country's violent three-year conflict. The report, made public earlier this week, alleges that President Salva Kiir, former vice president Riek Machar and other top …

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to reinstate Ohio's Golden Week voting procedure, which allowed people to register and vote in the same week. Golden Week was the first five days of a 35-day early-in-person (EIP) voting system, prior to the end of registration before an election, and was popular with minority voters. Democrats …

A UN expert on Tuesday called on all nations to ensure that every existing and future trade agreement abides by and endorses all binding human rights treaties and environmental and health goals. In a statement accompanying release of a new report, Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a …

A polygamous family on TLC's "Sister Wives" reality TV show filed a request [cert. petition, PDF] on Monday with the US Supreme Court in an attempt to legalize polygamy. Kody Brown and his four wives filed the appeal after the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit threw out a constitutional challenge [opinion, PDF; …

Thailand's military government announced on Monday that it will prosecute cases concerning national security and "royal insult" in civilian courts. Dissidents have been tried in military courts since the military seized power in 2014. Junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha signed an order saying that these cases will be tried in civilian courts because of "an improving …